Titans top Tigers on road
Jan. 26—NEW BOSTON — Notre Dame outscored the host New Boston Tigers 37-11 in the second half of Tuesday's Southern Ohio Conference Division I meeting inside Homer Pellegrinon Gymnasium.
That second-half signature difference allowed the visiting Titans to take out the defending SOC I champs on their home court —by a 72-44 count.
Leading 35-33 going into the halftime locker room, Notre Dame deployed a zone defense during the final 16 minutes — which helped keep a Tiger offense that had first-half success at bay in the latter stages.
"Second half we went to a zone and really slowed them down, I thought," ND coach Matt Mader said, after the win. "Our intensity was great out of it, our bumps, and rebounding was excellent. Thought that was a huge difference for us tonight."
Notre Dame book-ended the game with 21-point quarters in the first and fourth periods, and showed great balance in their scoring output.
Four of the Titans' five starters reached double figures in scoring, led by senior Johnathan Strickland's game-high 16 points.
Cody Metzler scored 14 — seven in each half — despite playing through foul trouble, Dylan Seison scored 13 with a trio of three-pointers, Dominic Sparks had 12, and Jermaine Powell nearly scored double figures with nine points.
Mader said his team's balanced scoring effort in Tuesday's win was a direct result of their willingness to share the basketball.
"We need to continue to do that. Lately in these last two weeks, these guys have really shared the basketball and had a lot of fun playing with each other," Mader said. "It's great to see them come along and have fun, and if we continue to share it we're going to have balanced scoring."
New Boston was led in scoring by Myles Beasley and Dalton Jackson, who both scored 12 apiece.
The Tigers and Titans will meet for a second time this Friday night in Portsmouth — when Notre Dame will go for a season-sweep of their in-county and SOC I rivals.
"They've been good for awhile. Went to the (Division IV) Final Four last year, have a couple of key contributors from that team back and they're still a formidable team," Mader said, of facing NB in a few days. "(New Boston coach) Adam (Cox) does a nice job with those guys and I'm sure he'll have them ready to go this Friday."
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BOX SCORE
Notre Dame 21 14 16 21 — 72
New Boston 12 21 6 5 — 44
Notre Dame (8-6, 5-4 SOC I) 72
Carson Sammons 1 0-0 2, Jermaine Powell 4 0-1 9, Aaryn Bradford 0 0-0 0, Gary Zheng 0 0-0 0, Landon Barbarits 1 0-0 2, Carter Campbell 0 0-0 0, Dylan Seison 5 0-0 13, Johnathan Strickland 4 5-7 16, Cody Metzler 4 5-6 14, Dominic Sparks 5 2-3 12, K. Hadsell 1 0-0 2, Jarren Edgington 1 0-0 2; TOTALS: 26 12-17 72; Three-point field goals: 8 (Seison and Strickland 3 apiece, Powell and Metzler 1 apiece)
New Boston (5-8, 4-4 SOC I) 44
Devin Allard 3 0-0 6, Grady Jackson 0 4-4 4, Jayse Taybor 0 0-1 0, Colt Maynard 0 0-0 0, Josh Tabor 0 0-0 0, Cooper 0 0-0 0, Luke Henson 0 0-0 0, Myles Beasley 3 4-4 12, Ector Brady 1 0-0 2, Mark Rivers 1 0-2 2, Bower 0 0-0 0, Dalton Jackson 5 1-1 12, Brady Voiers 2 2-2 6, Hunter Easter 0 0-0 0; TOTALS: 15 11-14 44; Three-point field goals: 3 (Beasley 2, D. Jackson 1)
Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 370-0713 ext. 1930, by email at jsmith@aimmediamidwest.com, or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2022 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
